Flickerfest began as a small local festival at the Balmain High School in 1991. Since then it has grown to become Australia’s leading Academy® accredited & BAFTA recognised competitive Australian & International Short Film Festival with 1000’s of entries coming from filmmakers across the globe.
Flickerfest is considered in international circles as the leading Australian competitive short film festival and increasingly filmmakers view it as one of the main festivals on the world circuit. To maintain this high standard each year the festival director visits festivals around the world seeking new films most of which have not been seen in Australia.
In 2003 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science elected to recognise Flickerfest as a qualifying festival for the Best Short Film and Best Animation categories of the Academy® Awards. In 2010, Flickerfest was also recognised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), making films from the UK that won at Flickerfest, eligible for a BAFTA nomination. In 2013 our Australian competition also received Academy® accreditation, & in 2014 our Documentary competition also received Academy® accreditation.
The honour of Academy® Award accreditation will guarantee Flickerfest’s international profile for many years to come, whilst also ensuring greater opportunities for our Australian short film makers internationally.
Flickerfest national tour has become a very important part of the festival and started in 1995. The tour takes the main competitive programmes and some special sessions to many regional and metropolitan areas, which rarely have an opportunity to view this collection of the best of the Australian & the world’s short films; Flickerfest will present films at 50+ venues Australia-wide. Flickerfest is acknowledged as a quality arts event. We are proud that each year we screen the most innovative creative and inspiring short films the world has to offer, all united by their excellence in the short film genre.